1. Field of Related Art
The present disclosure relates to printing documents, and more particularly, to a method and system for automatically generating a copy of a print stream.
2. Background of the Related Art
Conventionally, document management required that vast amounts of documents be shipped to storage facilities and to be later retrieved if needed; the process being overly expensive and time consuming. Further, conventional document storage systems have proven to be very problematic, especially when a user must scan thousands of document pages in order to create electronic images of the document pages for electronic storage, even though the cost of electronically storing documents has become less expensive than the cost of printing and storing physical copies of the documents.
The use of digital input scanners, which can successively scan a set of sheets and record the images thereon as digital data, has become common in the office context, such as in digital copiers and electronic archiving. Unfortunately, due to the high frequency in the use of such machines and the plethora of parts involved, there are many problems associated with the scanning process, especially when the process involves scanning thousands of document pages or large volumes of documents. Thus, there is a need in the art to electronically copy documents in a fast, accurate, and most efficient manner. Although there are pseudo-print drivers used to drive many different alternative “print” workflows like print-to-PDF, print-to-fax, print-to-web, print-to-printshop, the current state of these “print” workflows do not transfer the document to an electronic document storage system.
A conventional printing system typically includes three components: (1) a user; (2) a server; and (3) a peripheral device. The user via a graphical user interface causes a print command to be transmitted to a processor of a computer system. The processor then transmits the print command to the peripheral device, such as a MFD, either directly or via a server. The peripheral device, besides being an MFD, can include a printer, xerographic machine, or any other network type of device capable of performing a virtual printing function (e.g., print-to-PDF) or actual printing function. In an office network environment, a user normally uses a desktop computer with multiple printers connected to it via the network, allowing the user to select which output device/printer he desires to send his print request to.
Prior art printing systems lack the capability to automatically generate an electronic copy of a print stream transmitted to one of many output devices or printers. Accordingly, in order for the printed document to be electronically stored, the printed document must be scanned or imaged and then transferred to an electronic document storage system.